Purged Color of the Eyes
by E-GzorZ-The-Oddity
Summary: It has been three years since the VotE. Finally awake from his coma, Naruto struggles with amnesia, blindness, and the beast within him. slight NaruHina. Beast!Naruto
1. Stormy Weather

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I'm not the owner. I'll say it again: I DONT OWN NARUTO. Third( or fourth I can't tell) times the charm: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO (I would go on like this but then it would get repetitive and boring and then I will eventually hate the hilarious disclaimers that are on this site.) I believe this should be the only disclaimer needed for the entire story. Also I do not profit from this fanfic.

Rated: M for mature because I'm one hundred percent certain that I'm gonna have some gore.

Commence Reading...but first to let you know this takes place during the Sasuke Retrieval Arc.

NOW!

Chapter 1: Stormy Weather

Rain. It was just liquid precipitation. An everyday occurence. Nothing more than condensed water vapor coming from the atmosphere. It was so ordinary. Yet, it was so powerful. The rain effected everything. Rain grew crops that provided food. It caused mudslides that destroyed everything in its path. Rain was life. Rain was death. But perhaps its most powerful ability was something much less tangible. It swayed people's emotions. No matter where you lived rain still had a grip on your emotions.

Tropical rain was feared. Rain meant storms. Terrible storms that lead to things like floods and monsoons. In the desert, rain was hope. It renewed their water supplies that let them live in such a harsh climate. In more temperate climate, rain was gloom. The darkness it provided and the light it deprived. Nothing good ever happens in the dark.

A shrouded figure ran through a dense forest in the midst of the night. The force of the rain hit him as he ran. The slight patch of moonlight peaking through the trees provided a clear view of his face. Hatake Kakashi. Jounin of Konohagakure. Son of the White Fang of Konoha. Captain of Team 7. Anyone who looked upon the Copy Ninja at this moment would see the terror in his eye.

In his arms, a small body lay. An orange jumpsuit marinated in the scarlet blood of the body. Its hair showed no trace of any color but a deep, deep red. A small groan eructed from the throat of the now obviously male form.

As Kakashi sped through the trees he whispered ,"Just hang on a little longer." The jounin worked his way through the trees. From branch to branch, charging within the forest. With a final leap, the ninja clears through the trees and finally reaches his destination. The gates of Konoha. He was finally in a guaranteed safe zone. But, that didn't mean who could slow his pace.

Without stalling for a second, Hatake continued his sprint. Passing the guards of the gate, he ran into the vast expanse that was his village. He ran through the residential and businesses districts, zipping by the Hokage Tower, and making his way to the monument. The hospital, being an important facility, was located in the most secure area as possible. The base of the Hokage Monument.

As he rushed through the front doors of the infirmary, he shouted ,"Get me a doctor quick!" When the nurse at the desk saw the bloodied shell of a human being, she hit a large red button on the under side of the counter.

Suddenly, a group of doctors and nurses came swarming in with a gurney. Working like a well-organized group of insects, they took the figure from Kakashi's grasp and rushed him away into the corridor. The Copy Nin just stared at his hands. Blood. Deep red blood. That was all he saw. But, the man slowly regained his hold on his surroundings. He turned around and ran off in the direction of the Hokage Tower to inform Tsunade of the current dilemma.

XXX

Earlier

XXX

The forests in Fire Country were known for their lush greenery and large amounts of trees. But no forest was as famous as the one that bordered the Valley of The End, where the Shodaime Hokage fought against Uchiha Madara. This forest was created as aftermath of the Shodaime's mokuton abilities. Though several large, but perfectly star shaped clearing occur within this forest because of Madara's Amaterasu attack, an attack that produced a black allows very little, if any, life to grow where it has burned. For this reason alone, the forest was named the Forest of Stars.

It was in one of these clearings that Sabaku no Gaara and Rock Lee are sitting in a graveyard of bones bathing in the evening twilight. After their fight with the Kaguya known as Kimimaro, they decided to take a small rest. Several minutes passed as the two young shinobi regained their energy, their ragged breaths turned into silent breathing and their overheated bodies had cooled. As soon as they began to get ready to move again, they heard a rustling sound in the bushes just to the east of the clearing.

Though both Gaara and Lee were young, that didn't mean they weren't stupid and naive. They knew that they were in home territory, but the idea of them being attacked by an enemy nin wasn't that far-fetched. After all, they had just fought an incredibly strong Oto shinobi just minutes before. If they automatically assumed that it was an ally they could be caught off guard and killed. There was an old ninja saying that fit their current situation perfectly. 'Never assume anything. It only makes an Ass out of You and Me.' These two, being the well-trained shinobi they were, got ready for a fight. Gaara having his sand loom about the ground around him, and Lee settling into his taijutsu stance.

"Gaara!" the voice of a young woman shouted out from behind the foliage. Gaara, instantly recognizing the voice of his elder sister, halted his sand from attacking the forms that were emerging from the bushes. Temari stood there, slightly beaten up, but not gravely injured. Next to her the boy that Gaara recognized as 'Nara' was seen, in a slightly worse condition. The sand-user noticed the boy had a splint on his hand.

"YOSH! Nara-san and Temari-san! It is good to see the two of you are alright!" Lee shouted at the top his lungs. Temari, not used to the loud antics of the green spandex shinobi, had to cover her ears.

"It's good to see you too, Lee, but when did you get here? Weren't you recovering in the hospital?" Shikamaru asked the Gai-clone.

"Hai, but I couldn't help but feel useless as my youth-filled comrades went to retrieve Uchiha-san who has strayed from his path of youth!" the boy said with a burning passion in his eyes. All Shikamaru could do was groan and mumble a small 'troublesome'.

"Temari, you should remember to be more quiet in an enemy infested area. You could get yourself killed," Gaara said while giving a slight glare at his sister.

"H-hai!" the girl said in embarassment. She couldn't believe she could make such a simple mistake on such a serious mission. She was quite unused to feeling worried about her little brother. The girl had always cared about her youngest sibling, but her fear of him had gotten the better of her. The reason for her preoccupied manner was she had always believed the redhead to be invincible. He was an indestructible force of nature in her eyes, but when he was defeated at the hands of Uzumaki Naruto she realised that he wasn't immortal or indestructible. He was still human. He even began to change after his defeat. He no longer threatened her or Kankuro and he hadn't killed anyone since, excluding Kimimaro.

"Where's Sasuke and Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.

Lee answered, "Uchiha-san ran off to the north and Naruto-kun followed after him. We should hurry and see if he needs any help in catching Uchiha-san."

Shikamaru gave an agreeing nod at Lee's plan and the two Suna and two Konoha nin took off towards the Valley of the End. Just three minutes into their run it began to rain. It took a total of one hour to finally reach their destination. But, what they saw was not what they expected.

Sasuke, was laying on a raised platform of rock in the center of the river surrounded in a pool of blood. Naruto was nowhere in sight, and that was what worried Shikamaru.

"Uchiha-san!" Lee shouted as soon as he saw the body. He jumped from the cliff, straight to the platform and flipped over the form that was Uchiha Sasuke. What was seen there would plague the group's dreams for years to come. A comrade. A classmate. A friend. Uchiha Sasuke layed there with his chest torn open and his heart visible. His left lung and stomach were completely destroyed. The right lung was deflated and his digestive tract was spilling out of him. The blank stare of his eyes felt like it cut into their very souls, his sharingan still activated. Not an ounce of warmth was left in his corpse.

Suddenly, without warning atleast ten Oto shinobi appeared at the other side of the Valley. Their weapons drawn and poised to fight. Seeing their obvious disadvantage Shikamaru gave an order to retreat. Lee began to pick up Sasuke's body, but as soon as he touched it a kunai came sailing down at Lee, but with his quick reflexes he caught the kunai.

"Lee, I don't think they'll let us take the body. We should just leave, we can't fight them right now," Shikamaru said.

Lee furrowed his mega eyebrows. 'How unyouthful of them,' the taijutsu specialist thought. As the retrieval team left, they said one last goodbye to their fallen comrade. As they reenter the forest Temari speaks up, "What about that Naruto? Where do you suppose he went off too?"

Gaara was the first to answer her. "My guess is that Uzumaki-san is dead or unconscious. He isn't the kind of person to leave a comrade's body wherever it falls. If he is unconscious he probably, washed downstream and died anyways," the sand user said keeping a straight face.

Temari was about to comment, but she decided Gaara was right. Even if the boy had survived, he was the type to have helped his friend even if it killed him. The group then began their long journey back to Konoha.

XxXxXxXxX

Short chapter I know. If there is anyone who is interested in beta-ing for me plz contact me. I'm socially awkward. That doesn't mean i bite. But, if you make me angry, then I'll bite.

plz review as brutally honest as possible but most of all

plz review. For Pete's sake REVIEW. DO IT FOR PETE. IF U DON'T I WILL KILL HIM!!!

Signed your slightly insane author,

E-GzorZ-The-Oddity

UPDATED: 8/9/09


	2. Red Curses

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: I am going to make all of my author's notes short to get a more accurate word count overall. And also… I ACTUALLY GOT A REVIEW!!! So happy :) Didn't expect one until a later chapter maybe.

Chapter 2: Red Curses

Hatake Kakashi, a jounin of Konoha, is a very well known person in the ninja world. He was first known as The Legacy of Konoha's White Fang. The White Fang's real name was Hatake Sakumo, Kakashi's father. When his father committed suicide, Kakashi threw himself into his ninja training and graduated from the ninja academy at the age of six. He graduated the academy in nearly record time and became one of the youngest ninja Konoha had ever seen.

Then, he became the student of the Yellow Flash, or better known as the Yondaime Hokage. During this time, he created his most prized technique, the Raikiri. This move was modeled after the Yondaime's own original jutsu the Rasengan, but because of the dangers and speed of this technique his sensei forbade him from using it. During a disastrous mission, he gained the Sharingan, which allowed him to see everything much more clearly, slowly, and allowed him to copy the techniques of his opponents. Thus, he gained a title of his own as the Copy Nin.

The young man made it to the rank of AnBu captain when he turned 21, and led his team for 6 years. There was no doubt a man with such a background was an incredibly able and experience ninja. But, through his years of his life he had never felt such a terrible, awful, and revolting feeling at the pit of his stomach as he did now.

As he jumped cross the roof buildings of his village, he headed to the Hokage Tower. Coming upon the base, he jumped up onto the side of the building and began to run up it. Quickly, he made his way up to the small balcony that looked over the village from the Hokage's office.

Tsunade was sitting at her desk asleep. She was so happy that night had finally come. Her day had been one of the toughest of her entire career as Hokage. First, she had a D-rank mission went awry. The client was the Daimyo's wife, and as usual it was to recapture her lost pet, Tora the cat. She had assigned the regular chunnin sacrifice to do the mission, but that's where it all went wrong. It seems after having been defeated by a cat so many times the chunnin had a mental break down and threw a kunai straight through the poor feline's skull. To get the Daimyo off her back she had to put the poor chunnin in the Konohagakure Mental Institution.

Her second problem was she had two of her shinobi disappear to go after the Sasuke Retrieval team. Lee left to go for some reason that was unknown to her. Kakashi left to go after hearing about the mission. He believed since it was his student that left, it was his responsibility.

The next horrible disaster was that her assistant, Shizune, had found her hidden stash of sake below a floor panel in her office. Now all of her precious alcohol had found its way into the trash.

Finally, she had a council meeting that had lasted for 6 hours debating about whether or not to rebuild the residential section in complete separate houses or save building space by creating apartments. It was all very difficult to stay awake through. The droning voices of the old wind bags bickering would be enough to make a five year old on a sugar rush.

Tap, tap, tap. A noise was heard throughout the office. Tap, tap, tap. A tapping noise upon the glass of her window. The Hokage groggily got up from her not so comfortable position on her desk and made her way toward her balcony. As she opened the sliding door, she noticed Kakashi sitting upon her balcony. His breathing was ragged like he had been running for hours. He looked half asleep to her.

"I see you're back, Kakashi. I'm assuming you met up with the med-team I sent as backup. What can I do for you?" the older woman asked.

"Tsunade-sama, you need to get to the hospital," he wheezed out before losing consciousness.

Her eyes widened as she heard his words. She quickly grabbed his unconscious body, and laid it down on the couch within her office. Then with a quick shunshin, she left for the hospital.

XXX

With the Retrieval Team.

XXX

Not long after they left Sasuke's body to the Oto shinobi, the group had run into Kiba and Kankuro. Gaara, being the much kinder and less sociopathic person he was, created a large plate of sand to carry the entire group back to Konoha. Not long after they spotted a group of Konoha med-nin. Gaara slowed down his flying plate and made a slow descent to the ground.

"Ah, there you are the," the female leader of the group said. "Tsunade-sama sent us along as backup to help the wounded." As she began to look over the group, she noticed the wounds that had been inflicted upon Akamaru and Kiba.

"We need some medical attention over here!" the woman shouted. Immediately, three medics rushed over to the dog boy and his partner. The medics quickly looked over and dressed their wounds.

"Have you found the rest of my team yet?" Shikamaru spoke up. He received a nod from one of the medics looking over Kiba.

The head medic spoke up, "We located the first one about an hour and a half ago. The second one we found about thirty minutes after that. They're both in critical conditions and we sent them back to Konoha. But, at the speed they're going you should be able to reach Konoha before them. We wouldn't want to jostle any of their wounds to make them worse."

The group all gave a solemn nod. Shikamaru clenched his fist and mumbled, "Chouji."

"Anything we should know?" she asked Shikamaru.

"Hai. Our target is dead and one of our last team member is missing. As far as we can tell Naruto killed Sasuke at the Valley of the End, and he was washed downstream. We were about to take back Sasuke's body but a group of Oto nin showed up and outnumbered us. We were too exhausted to fight them so we retreated," Shikamaru reported.

"Your last teammate passed us about 15 minutes ago. He was being carried by Hatake-san. They didn't stop so we couldn't tell what condition he was in. It seemed serious though," another medic nin announced.

With this new information Gaara's eyes snapped open. He recreated his sand platform and Shikamaru, Temari, Kankuro, and Lee got on. In a flurry of sand they took off once more, leaving Kiba in the hands of the medics.

Although it was not obvious at first, this fast and easy speed of transportation put its toll on Gaara. After thirty minutes he collapsed from exhaustion. Gaara had to be carried by Kankuro and Lee collapsed from exhaustion and was carried by Shikamaru. It only took little more than two hours to get back to Konoha.

As they closed in on the village gates, the guards were alerted to their presence and recognizing the village symbols on them they let the group pass through. Immediately, they headed off to the hospital.

After ten minutes of roof hopping, the team had finally made it to their destination. They entered through the double-door entrance, and suddenly in a gust of leaves Tsunade stood in the center of the lobby. She quickly turned to see the retrieval team at the entrance.

"Shikamaru report!" she shouted to him.

"Hai, we have a total of five confirmed kills of the Oto shinobi that took Sasuke. Chouji and Neji were critically wounded in their fights and should be here shortly. Kiba and Akamaru were wounded, but shouldn't be here for another two hours. From what we've heard Naruto was wounded as well, but we cannot confirm that. What we can tell you is that we found Sasuke dead at the Valley of the End," he told her.

"I see. Where's his body?" she asked him.

Lee spoke up at this," We couldn't retrieve his youth depleted form Tsunade-sama! A group of unyouthful Oto ninja appeared and we were unable to fight back with our youth exhausted bodies, and Nara-san called for a retreat!"

Tsunade noticed the tears in the boy's eyes. He was one of the most compassionate of the new generation. Sasuke's death must have hit him hard. All she could do was nod at this new information.

"Let's go find out about the gaki. I don't like the sound of this," she said as she went over to the nurse's desk. The team didn't hear what was said, but suddenly Tsunade was gone in another gust of leaves.

Gaara went up to the desk to ask the nurse a question. He was up there for a moment, then he came back to the group.

He just looked at them. Staring at them with his unwavering gaze. It was a little disturbing.

"Well what happened?" Temari asked him.

"Uzumaki is in surgery. Four broken ribs. One broken arm. One broken leg. Severe head trauma. A hole through his right lung. The nurse said those were the only confirmed injuries," he said in his usual monotonous tone. The group just looked at him, the disbelief obvious in their eyes.

All they could do was wait.

XXX

The Next Morning

XXX

"Sakura!" a voice shouted, "Sakura, get out here!"

Haruno Sakura, stumbling out of her bed, answered the door to her apartment. Standing there was Yamanaka Ino, her oldest friend/enemy. Her frienemy if you will.

Sakura said with a yawn," Come on in, Ino."

"No time! You gotta come with me!" the blonde haired girl practically shouted.

Sakura brushed a pink strand of hair from her face. Sakura glared at her friend. "Why?" she asked plainly.

"My dad told me the retrieval team came back last night!" she shouted. As soon as she heard those words, Sakura slammed the door in Ino's face. Less than twenty seconds later, Sakura reopened the door, fully dressed.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Sakura shouted as she took off, leaving Ino behind.

Ino just stared. Suddenly she realized Sakura didn't know where she was going.

"Wait, Sakura!" she shouted as she ran after her frienemy.

XXX

Back at the Hospital

XXX

It had been 8 hours since the team had made it back to Konoha. Only twenty minutes after they arrived, Chouji was rushed into surgery. Half an hour later, Neji arrived and he also went into surgery. Another two hours later, Kiba and Akamaru made it to the hospital. This time it was only Akamaru who went into surgery. Apparently Kiba's wounds weren't that serious. Through the night, each of them made it out of surgery. Now all of them sat in the same room. Each of them awakened not long after their surgeries. The entire retrieval team, except Naruto, now sat about the room waiting for their last member.

"What do you think happened to him?" Kiba said aloud.

"Isn't it obvious? He got defeated by Sasuke," Neji told him.

At this point Chouji spoke up and said, "Isn't it more like Sasuke got defeated by Naruto? I mean, I don't think Naruto meant to do it. Maybe, Sasuke was going to kill him and Naruto had to kill him first or something. The fight probably hurt both of them, but Naruto wasn't the one to die in the end. It was Sasuke."

"I don't see what anyone is worried about," Gaara said.

"Yeah, really. If Uzumaki can defeat Gaara then there is no way that he'll die from this," Temari announced.

"Death is inevitable. Naruto could very well die. It's not impossible," Shikamaru said quietly.

"Yosh! We have to believe in Naruto-san! We can't just give up hope!" Lee shouted.

"The loud and annoying one is right. Giving up on him is like believing he will die," Kankuro told the rest of the group.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Someone was knocking on the door to their room.

"Come in," the group said in unison.

The door opened to show a disheveled looking Hokage.

"Naruto has been released from surgery. He's in the next room over," she told them.

"Can we see him?" Kiba said.

"Hai, but you four need to stay in bed. The rest can see him," she said quietly as she looked down at the floor.

As she led Temari, Kankuro, Gaara, and Shikamaru out of the room she saw Sakura and Ino running down towards the hallway.

"Tsunade-sama!" the two of them shouted.

As they finally reached the group, they noticed Tsunade's menacing glare gaze down upon them.

"Shout in my hospital again and you will be doing D-rank missions for a year," she said somewhat calmly.

The two girls blushed in embarrassment. They looked at each other then at the Hokage.

"Where's Sasuke?" the fan girls asked.

Tsunade let out a sigh. "Girls, Sasuke is…," her voice begins to waver.

"The Uchiha is dead," Gaara blurted out. He quickly received a glare from the rest of the group and shocked faces from Ino and Sakura.

But, their faces weren't shocked for long. Their faces quickly turned into anger.

"How dare you lie to us sand-boy!" Ino shouted.

"Yeah, that's just low of you!" Sakura agreed.

"Girls," Tsunade said gaining their attention. She looked the two in the eyes.

"Follow me," was her order. As the group plus the fan girls walked to the room just over she quietly opened the door.

Sakura and Ino were expecting to see Sasuke lying in bed with a frown on his face, but what they saw caught them off guard completely.

Lying on the bed was Uzumaki Naruto. Tubes running in and out of him. Wires connected to his chest and head. Bandages covering a majority of his body, including his eyes.

"What happened…" Ino whispered.

"Naruto fought Sasuke that's what happened," Shikamaru said.

"I knew he couldn't win. I shouldn't have asked him to do what he obviously couldn't," Sakura sobbed out.

"It's hard to tell Sakura, but Naruto didn't lose," Tsunade said.

"What? But if the winner is in this bad of a shape then…" Ino dragged out.

"Gaara-san didn't lie. I saw it with my own eyes Sakura-chan," Lee began," Uchiha-san is dead."

"No," Sakura said barely above a whisper. Tears filled her eyes. Backing away from Naruto, she pushed her way out of the room and ran down the halls.

Lee and Shikamaru were about to run after her, but were stopped by their Hokage.

"She needs to be alone right now," she said.

Temari asked, "How is Uzumaki-san?"

The older woman just let out a sigh. "Not well. Right now he's in a coma."

"When will Naruto-kun wake up?" Lee asked her.

Tsunade walked to the side of his bed. She reached for a pair of scissors lying on the night stand, and brought them up to the comatose boy's face. She reached with her empty hand to the bandages upon his eyes. Pulling them away from his face, she slipped the scissors around them and cut them off with on simple motion.

As she pulled the now cut bandages from his face, the group noticed something strange covering his eyes. They saw blood. It completely covered his eyes and the bridge of his nose between them.

"Why are his eyes covered in blood?" Shikamaru brought up.

"It's not blood," she retorted.

"It's chakra," Gaara said.

Tsunade gave a nod. "This chakra maybe the cause of his coma, combined with his severe head trauma. We aren't sure when, or even if he will, wake up."

"So all we can do is wait," Temari said.

All of them silently agreed to the statement. They would wait until Naruto returned from the recesses of his mind. They would wait as long as they could.

XXX

End Chapter

XXX

Hmm? like it so far? well if you do WRITE A REVIEW FOR PETE'S SAKE!! Yessss... do it for Pete. He was shot in 'nam and lost his right eye. He is not a character of my imagination. It was my kidney who made him up. ^_^

I still need a beta if anyone is interested :)

Signed your slightly insane author,

E-GzorZ-The-Oddity


	3. Awaken

Purged Color of the Eyes

Chapter 3: -Awaken-

While Naruto laid unconscious within the hospital, time passed him by. His body was growing and his friends were maturing. Missions upon missions forced them to grow up. Death, plagues, and famine. They were all familiar with these by now, but while their skills increased Naruto's body refused to wake up from its state of dormancy.

At first, only a month had passed. Everyone was optimistic about Naruto's return. Not long after, that month turned into six months. They all still believed he'd come back to them anyway. Then a year had passed, and the seeds of doubt had settled in their hearts. Finally, the two year mark had passed. Most of the people he knew were used to not seeing him. Not hearing his voice. Not having to put up with his pranks. And in the case of one person in particular, not having a person to stalk. They had given up hope on him. However, not everyone he knew were quitters.

The Suna Siblings would come to Konoha periodically. Tsunade and Shizune would visit him and check up on him at least twice a week. Jiraiya, when he was in Konoha for some local research, would visit him once a month. He was regularly taken care of by several different nurses and doctors. Tsunade, being the incredible medic she was, developed a shock therapy system for his muscles so they wouldn't weaken from the lack of use. His hair had even grown into a pale blond color, though no one could figure out why. Maybe it was the lack ramen.

It had been roughly three years since, and Naruto still hadn't woken from his slumber. It was midnight when one of his nurses came to check up on him. She walked into the dark room, flipping the light switch as she closed the door. You could see her white nurses outfit that covered her lightly tanned skin. Her straight, black hair hung down to her neck and around the sides of her face. It was doubtful she was even older than twenty years. The nurse put the charts she was carrying at the foot of his bed and walked up to the IV machine that connected to the boy's arm. As she was refilling the packet of fluids she heard a cracking noise. The woman waited for a few second. Having heard nothing, she returned to her work.

After she was done, she was about to pick up her charts and leave when she heard another cracking noise. This time she was certain that she didn't imagine it. The room was silent for a few more seconds until the cracking noise was heard again. Suddenly, the sheets of the bed moved slightly. Naruto's hand was tightly squeezing the fabric. The nurse let out a gasp. Naruto hadn't shown any signs conscious brain activity in three years. Though she had actually only been working as a nurse for two weeks now, she knew this because of his chart. She quickly walked to the opposite side of his bed and pressed the emergency aid request button as per the instructions on his chart.

Naruto's consciousness was slowly coming back to him. He was vaguely aware of his surroundings. The breathing apparatus on his month was easy to feel. The young ninja was barely even able to move his head. The sound of footsteps reached his ears. They were close to him. Naruto tried to open his eyes, but they felt like they were sealed shut. This feeling of helplessness didn't comfort him in the least. He tried to move his arms, but all he could do was clench his left hand. Foot steps echoed throughout the room once more this time, moving to his right side. A short beep was heard. It sounded like a button to him, but he couldn't be sure.

Slowly, he reached his right hand outwards. His arm struggled at first, but he finally felt something brush the tips of his fingers. Feverishly, he grasped at whatever it was he touched.

The nurse had just pressed the emergency button when she felt something brushing against her skirt. She looked down to see the boy's hand grasp her skirt. He was a pervert! Or atleast she thought so at first. But then she noticed his arm was trembling as if he was exhausted. She reached down to his hand and unwrapped it from her skirt and gently laid it on the bed.

In less than two minutes later, Tsunade and Shizune came rushing into Naruto's room. Looking to the nurse Tsunade asked, "What happened?"

As soon as those words left her mouth, a quiet groan elicited from the throat of the previously comatose patient. Tsunade rushed over to Naruto's side.

Tsunade looked the nurse straight in the eye. The nurse, realizing the significance of her position, spoke up, "He started moving while I was refilling the IV. I think he can hear us."

"Are you sure, Tamiko-san?" Shizune said from the doorway.

Tamiko gave a nod. "Hai, he reached out and grabbed my skirt." The young nurse gave a slight blush. Even if he couldn't see or talk at the moment, he was still a male.

"The red stuff on his eyes," Tsunade began, "It's cracked."

Tsunade moved her hand towards his eyes, but another groan from Naruto stopped her. His lips moved as if he was trying to say something.

"Naruto, what is it?" Tsunade said.

Tamiko said, "Maybe his mouth is dry?"

Naruto's head moved slightly.

Tsunade grabbed the packet from the IV machine, and with a quick jab of a small chakra scalpel that covered her finger, she poked a hole in the side of it. Tamiko removed the breathing machine from Naruto's face. Tsunade covered the hole on the packet with her finger she said, "Open your mouth, Naruto."

After he did so, she put the hole to his mouth and he began to the suck the packet dry like a baby drinking from its bottle. It didn't take longer than thirty seconds for him to down the entire thing. While he was drinking, the red substance had cracked once more.

"Tha- thanks, Ba- baa-chan," he said barely above a whisper.

As he said those words, a small tear rolled down the Hokage's cheek.

"Alright, Naruto. I need you to keep very still while I try to take the stuff off of your eyes. Do you understand?" Tsunade said.

No immediate answer came. "Did he just fall asleep?" Shizune asked. The immediate snoring answered her question.

Tsunade carefully reached for the cracked substance upon his face. She tried to peel it off, but it appeared to still be connected to his skin.

"That's not coming off anytime soon," said Tsunade, "Shizune, I will need you to assemble all of Naruto's friends tomorrow morning in my office and don't tell them why I've asked for them. I also need you to send a message to the Kazekage about what's happened. Understood?"

Shizune, "Hai, Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade ruffled Naruto's now pale blond hair with her hand. She felt relieved. After three years, he finally woke up. Looking at Tamiko she said, "I would like for you to stay in here and watch over him for the night."

With those last words, Tsunade and Shizune left the nurse and the patient in the room.

* * *

Naruto had awoken from his coma. As the days passed, senses began to return to him.

Sounds became clearer. He could hear the sounds of footsteps and conversations. From outside he could hear birds, and a lot of them. Hospital food tasted much better than he remembered. It was delicious, almost to the level of ramen. His sense of smell was the only thing not to return yet. His muscles had only atrophied slightly thanks to Tsunade's shock therapy.

He had yet to leave the hospital, or even get out of bed. He got several visits from his friends, or so he was told. Nearly everyday he was asleep for eighteen hours. One day, he was visited by Shino, Neji, and Shikamaru. Lucky for them, he was awake. They did most of the talking. It was wierd for them. Naruto, who was loud an obnoxious, was being quiet and attentive. Whether it was because of his injury or because he had nothing to talk about it was still disturbing. They talked about food, recent missions, and the weather. Then they brought up the subject of the retrieval mission.

"Naruto, how much do you remember about the mission?" Neji blurted out.

He just sat there trying to find understanding in Neji's words. "You mean," he began, "the one that caused me to be here?"

"Hai, Uzumaki-san," Shino said.

"Anything you can remember would help," said Shikamaru.

"I remember... chasing after... that white haired guy... and bushy brows showing up. But then... nothing."

"Are yo-" said Neji.

Naruto cut him off, "You guys should probably get goin'. Visiting hours are about over." Neji just gave Naruto a glare that he couldn't even see. Even if he was quiet now, he was still rude. Just as he was going to chastise the bed-ridden shinobi, Shikamaru put his hand on his shoulder.

"Alright then," Shikamaru said. It felt like Naruto wanted them to leave. 'Maybe he knows more than what he's telling.' he thought to himself.

"Get better soon," Neji said. The three of them said as they exited the room, their sandals clacking against the floor.

"See ya," Naruto said with a yawn.

'What? A yawn?' Shikamaru thought, 'He's just tired. I must be getting paranoid.'

When the door closed Naruto was left alone. He could still hear their foot steps. It only took a few seconds for them to get lost in the sea of other sounds.

He slowly moved his hand up to his chest, clutching where the hole in his chest once was. He could feel his heart beating. The muscles in his body began to tense up. "Dammit." he said in an exasperated tone.

Naruto just focused on the songs of the birds. The noise was comforting, much more comforting than the hospital noises. In a few minutes, he fell asleep. His hand was still clutching his chest through the white sheets.

* * *

Shino, Shikamaru, and Neji were exiting the hospital. The sun had nearly set on Konoha. They walked down the road when Shino suddenly turned and looked to the sky. It was only a few seconds later when a kikaichuu bug flew down onto his coat. Shikamaru and Neji just stared.

"Are you coming Aburame?" Neji said. He was slightly annoyed. Shino could've just waited for the bug to come to him. He didn't need to stop.

Shino replied, "I need to visit Hokage-sama." Then in a whirlwind of bugs, Shino disappeared, not even leaving a trace behind.

"I'm beginning to wonder if rudeness is contagious," said Neji. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Shikamaru put his hands behind his head, and resumed walking down the street. At first, his thoughts wondered to what Shino needed to talk to the Hokage about. But, his train of thought diverted to the prospect of going to his favorite hill and watching the clouds.

When Neji opened his eyes, he saw that Shikamaru was up the street and turning a corner.

"Definitely contagious,"

Shizune's life had been hell ever since Naruto woke up. It wasn't that she didn't want him to awake. She was ecstatic that he was, but since then Tsunade had entered her famed 'party state'. The 'party state' consisted of her drinking sake twenty four seven and not doing her works. Side effects included secretary work overload, nausea, and temporary amnesia.

She had been stuck in her office all day doing the Hokage's paperwork. It had taken her thirteen hours of nonstop work to do it. After she had finally finished, she picked up the large stack of papers and made her way down the hall to the Hokage's office.

Finally making it to the door, she could hear voices from inside. "Alright, I'll have someone keep an eye on him. Thank you for telling me," she recognized it as Tsunade's voice. The sound of footsteps came closer and closer to the door. The door pulled open to reveal Shino Aburame. You could have said that Shizune was surprised. If you had said that you would be telling a lie, though.

It was common for shinobi to come and go from the Hokage's office. Even more common for a jonin, such as Shino. The real surprise came when she entered the room. Shizune stared. And stared. She blinked her eyes. And stared.

What she saw was the most unlikely thing to ever. Was it the gods answering her prayers, or maybe a sign of the impending Apocalypse? Either way, the sight caused tears to stream down her face.

Tsunade just stared at her, wondering what had gotten into her. She needed to find out whatever made her assistant become a geyser of tears quick. "Did your boyfriend dump you or something?" Okay, maybe not the best tactic to console a crying woman.

"No, It's just-," she paused, "that your office is so clean!" Tsunade looked around to see that it was clean. An organized deck. A clean carpet. An emptied trash can. An organized bookshelf. The smell of pine tree lingered throughout the room.

"Oh yeah...," Tsunade murmured. Bringing her hands together, with her fore and middle fingers pointed upwards, she muttered, "Kai."

Suddenly, the scene shifted. The organized desk became a cluttered with stray papers and bottles of sake. Clunks of dirt covered the carpet in random areas. Shizune also noticed the plant container in the corner was not only housing a plant, but also an small amount of vomit. The trash can was full of broken bottles and paper. Nearly all of the books on the bookshelf were thrown askew on the shelf. Many of them were open. At seeing this, Shizune's tears of happiness stopped.

A red tinge had appeared on Tsunade's cheeks. She got up from her desk. "Well, I'm going home. Would you mind cleaning up for me?" Tsunade waited for a reply. After receiving none she assumed it was a yes. "Thanks a lot, Shizune-chan. I'll see ya' tomorrow!" With that, Tsunade left for home.

"My life is hell."

End Chapter

1: yes. I said shmuck. You did not misread.

A/N: sorry for the delay for this chapter. I had a hard time writing it. The nurse may or may not become and important character in the story. Probably not.

R&R for Pete's sake. Yessss. Do it for Pete. He's a fourty year old entrepeneur who's wife just left him and he lost his job. He's going through some hard times. Reviewing my story will make him feel better. And if you don't I will give you my lecture on why even numbers are better than odd. You don't want to hear that. I'll be talking for about a three legged dog for an hour.

Signed your slightly insane author,

E-GzorZ-The-Oddity

REVISED: 7/18/09


	4. Orange Cloth in the Fire

Chapter Four: Orange Cloth in the Firej

Tsunade sat in her office as the early morning sun peaked through her windows. At this time of day she was usually doing desk work, but for some reason it had all disappeared. For once she had the free time to think. She thought about all that had happened in the last three years, and how her life had changed. Instead of running from bill collectors, she was running a village.

She had thought that being back in Konoha would feel awkward and uncomfortable, but Tsunade had no idea how much the village had changed. New people, new buildings, and a new face on the Hokage Mountain. But even all these changes did not make her forget where she was. She was in Konoha. The land created by her ancestors. The place where she grew up. The village where her loved ones died.

But since she had returned, she had felt happy. Making new acquaintances, pissing off the old council members, and being rich. That's right she was rich. The Hokage was her job and as expected she was paid for doing her work. "Can't forget about the power either," she said to herself. Having hundreds of shinobi that would do almost anything you asked was extremely entertaining. And it was all thanks to Uzumaki Naruto.

He was so much like her little brother, Nawaki. It was painful to even look at him at times. Even so, she owed the idiot for awakening something she thought she had lost. Her happiness. It was for that reason that she was always looking out for him. Especially since he had become a veggie.

She spent what little free time she had to understanding the substance on his eyes. She had Jiraiya give her a detailed explanation of the workings of the seal that held the Kyuubi in the boy's stomach. Detailed reports of every mission he had been on had not been spared in his investigation. She even tried to find out who his parents were to find if they had any possible bloodline that might have interfered with the seal. She couldn't find anything at all about the latter though.

Tsunade had come to a conclusion. The fox was doing extensive reconstruction underneath all that chakra. The possible reasons of his coma mixed with the though of extensive reconstruction brought her worst fears. Extreme brain damage. It was hard for her not being able to tell. All medical jutsu used on the boy were entirely useless and they didn't have the technology to tell if he was alright. She wasn't sure if the fox was able to cure him, but in the end it must have.

A knock on the door awoke the old woman from her musings. "You may enter," she called out to her visitor. The door opened to show one of her kunoichi.

She bowed to her superior and said in a polite tone, "Good morning, Tsunade-sama."

"It is isn't it?" said Tsunade, "Well let's get down to business. Your mission will be taking care of a physically impaired man. It will be classified as a C-rank." The kunoichi could only nod as Tsunade handed her a folder. "All the details are in here. You are to meet at the designated location at 1400 today. Your team duties will be put on hold until the completion of your mission. Any questions?"

With a shake of her head the hokage dismissed her.

It was good to have power.

Itchy. Why was he so itchy? His hand scratched fervorously at his eyes. For the past half hour it had been a non-stop scratch fest. Naruto knew of the red chakra covering his eyes. For the few days since he had awoken it had been nothing but numb. He thought being unable to feel anything was bad. Oh how he wished he could return to that.

Suddenly he could hear the door to his room open. "Here he is." It was the old lady. He heard two pairs of footprints approach his bed. The clang of metal, the movement of fabric. The curtain had been closed to give him privacy. But from whom? He was alone in this room.

"N-Naruto-san!" a girlish voice said with a slight squeak. Who's voice was that? He knew it from somewhere.

Tsunade greeted him, "Good afternoon, Naruto!" Too loud! His ears had become extremely sensitive to nose. His body was compensating for the loss of his sight.

He let out a pained groan. She had completely forgot about his hearing. "My apologies," she said in a quiet voice.

The unknown voice spoke, "Tsunade-sama, y-you mean I... I am..." her voice faded. Now he remembered who that was...

"That's right," Tsunade confirmed her thoughts.

"Hey Hinata. Why are you here?" the boy asked. He was curious. Hinata was blushing.

Tsunade decided to answer the question with another question, "Naruto, how would you like to leave the hospital?"

Now that genuinely confused him. Why would he be let out of the hospital? Maybe it had something to do with Hinata. What did he know about her? She was the heir to the Hyuuga clan, which had the Byakugan doujutsu. She didn't get along well with her family. She always blushed whenever she was around him. What did that mean? He came up with nothing.

'-uto are you listening?" Tsunade asked. She was waving her hands in front of the boys face.

He felt the movement of air in front of him."Are you waving your hands in front of me?" he asked her.

It was Tsunade's turn to blush. Hinata giggled.

'Hinata giggled?' He had never heard her giggle before.

Tsunade would have beat him if it wasn't for being in a hospital. Attacking any patient in a hospital was taboo. She was a doctor. She took an oath. She whispered under her breath, "Stupid Hippocratic oath."

Naruto with his advanced hearing partially picked up what she was saying. He didn't want to know why the old hag was muttering about stupid hippos. So he answered her question. "How soon can I leave?"

A grin slowly crept onto her face. "How about now?" she suggested. He gave an approving nod.

"Where are my clothes?" he said.

Even though they were so necessary, Tsunade had completely neglected the fact he would ask. For she, in her drunken haze, had done something that some would call eccentric. Others would call negligent. And a few would call weir. "Your clothes," she restated the words, "Have unfortunately... met their end." She planned to avoid having to deal with the repercussion of her tipsy actions.

"Tsunade-sama, what does that mean?" Hinata said. Tsunade's plans were all but for naught. Now it was time to put her secondary plan of action.

"Welll... there was this match. And the match was so very cold. So I decided to warm it up by rubbing it against a match box. But then it caught on fire. Then stuff happened and your all your clothes disappeared. I... uh-I have to go. Important Hokage things." She was gone.

"What am I suppose to do about clothes?" Naruto asked Hinata. She had no idea, but she couldn't just tell him that. No, when Tsunade left whatever confidence she had went with her. Her presence had masked her absence of courage. Now that the woman was gone, all of Naruto's attention was focused mainly on her she could barely speak.

"I- I don't know... Naruto-san," she said his name as an after thought. She had had so many dreams and fantasies about the boy where they had acted so familiar. But, those were dreams and this was reality. Here she was not so bold.

Without warning he launched off the covers of his bed. He aridly arose from his bed, the hospital gown falling loosely around his frame. He steadied himself on the IV machine. She rushed over to his side to help him only to be brushed off. He's neck twisted so he was facing her.

"Do you mind helping me find something to wear, Hinata?" he said. She had noticed by now that he never added an honorific to many peoples names. Whenever he said hers it was different. The lack of words meant a great deal to her, even if he didn't realize it.

She gave a nod. Even if he couldn't hear her he took the silence as a yes. He grabbed the intravenous tube that was attached to his arm and with a quick tug it was ripped out. The free hanging tube slowly dripped its supply onto the sanitized floor. The hole in his arm slowly dripped blood down his hand, onto the floor. The two liquids met. Steam slowly seared from the abutment of the fluids.

Hinata only saw the blood on his arm. She moved to find a bandage. Her sudden movement startled him and he sidestepped into the mixture, smearing it across the floor.

He could hear the opening and slamming of drawers. "What's wrong Hinata?" He lifted his arm, the one that wasn't bleeding, and dragged his fingernails across his chakra-covered eyes.

She turned to him and looked at his arm. The blood had stopped. "Y-you're arm was bleeding, Naruto-san. I was looking for a bandage."

"I'm fine." And he was. Naruto didn't mind. He barely even noticed the blood in the first place. He steadily made his way to the door, his bare feet pattered against the hard floor. She followed him closely, not straying more than a few feet behind him. It was as if there was a leash connecting the two, and he was the dog leading her around. She pretended not to notice that his hospital gown was showing his rear end to the world.

Every time he nearly ran into a gurney or a stray food cart she would snag the back of his gown and pull him to a stop. After the first few times, she began to lead him by the hand. He changed from the large dog leading her around, to the small puppy being led.

After a few minutes of searching they found a pair of hospital scrubs. The two teenagers made their way to the hospitals exit. After signing the release form, they left to the shopping district.

Hinata led him down the dirt streets, her hand still in his. She mused for a moment if they looked like a couple, only to shake the thought from her head. They couldn't have looked like a couple. She was leading him around because he couldn't do it himself. Definitely not like a couple.

She noticed that many people stared at them. Some were just simple curious looks. Some were looks of annoyance. And a very small amount were filled with anger. Hinata didn't know what to think. She could understand the looks of curiosity and even the looks of annoyance. Curious because of the fact that she was leading around a boy dressed in scrubs. Annoyed because that boy was the most notorious prankster the village had ever had. Anger was the odd one out. It felt like it had no business being there. But it didn't surprise her. People had looked at him like that since she could remember. To be on the receiving end was unnerving.

Naruto's feet began to ache after a few minutes of walking. He didn't even acknowledge it. They walked hand in hand, an eerie silence between them. The bustle of the village all around them didn't help it. It made it worse by giving Naruto a headache.

"How's your team?" he said, "I've seen Shino, but how's the rest of your team?" The silence was unbearable. So he tried to fill the void with meaningless, but friendly conversation.

"K-Kiba has been on a mission for the last few weeks. He, Kurenai-sensei, and Lee-san," she said. He could barely hear her. Her voice was so quiet and the people on the streets were so loud.

She didn't allow for much to comment on, but he tried to keep talking. "What about his little mutt? Akamaru."

Hinata knew what he was doing. The old Naruto would have been talking without pause. He wasn't one for awkward silences. But ever since Tsunade had brought her to see him, she had noticed something was different. It was obvious. Neji had told her that he was acting strange during his visit. She realized what was different. His personality had changed completely. She had experienced something similar before. When her mother was alive, she had been an extremely happy and gentle person. But, as she got sicker her happiness slowly left her. She was quiet and rarely smiled. That was how Naruto was acting. What troubled her was that she didn't know why.

They turned a corner, the sounds of the voices lessened. Hinata had led him on a back road. "He has gotten much bigger since you last saw him. You remember how he use to sit upon Kiba's head all the time? Now Kiba can sit on his back," her voice was much clearer. The noise of the citizens had lessened, but her voice was still quiet.

She suddenly turned again. Figuring out where they were was a problem for Naruto. He knew where they were going, but he didn't seem to remember how to get there. He could recall that before the accident he knew the village's layout by the back of his hand. Now, it seemed like a complete mystery to him.

He couldn't see them or imagine them, but he knew they were there.

Gradually, the noise increased until they made another turn. It was several times louder than before. They had emerged in the shopping district.

"H-re w- -re," said Hinata. Her voice we being overpowered by everything around them.

Ding! The sound of the bell rang as Hinata opened a door to a shop. Pulling Naruto along, she entered. A metallic odor wafted into his nose and into the back of his throat. The innards of the building felt like a roaring fire was emanating from it. Metal and fire were the distinct signs of a weapons shop.

The tangy smell of ink entered his nose unexpectedly. It smelled like exploding seals. Hinata had led him to a ninja store. Hinata led him farther into the store. She stopped at what he assumed was a counter. The movement of beads from behind the counter let him know that someone was coming out.

"Hinata-chan!" the voice of a girl chimed. At this point, Hinata was standing between him and the mystery girl.

"Hello, Tenten-chan," Hinata replied.

"Oh, who's this?" Tenten noticed Hinata holding Naruto's hand. Hinata stepped aside to show Naruto.

"Hey Tenten," he said.

"N-Naruto?" She immediately made her way from behind the counter to embrace the boy in a hug.

"I heard you woke up, but I didn't think you would be out so soon! I was planning on going to visit you with Ino tomorrow morning. What are you doing here?" she asked.

"He needs new clothes, Tenten-chan," Hinata said in her quiet voice. She would have began pushing her forefingers together except that she was holding Naruto's hand. She was holding Naruto's hand. She had been holding his hand for near half an hour. Her cheeks became tinged with red and she let go of his hand. Tenten noticed it all but didn't say a word, but a grin did make its way onto her face.

"Clothes? Well you've come to the right place. All the clothes we sell here are made just for ninja. And we havc a large assortment of different styles. Just follow me," she grabbed both their hands and led them to the clothing section of the store.

"Wait here," she said. And wait they did. They only sound made was Naruto scratching his eyes.

Tenten rushed off into the aisles grabbing clothing at what seemed like random intervals. In a few minutes, she returned. She handed him the clothes and pushed him through the curtain of the nearby dressing room.

"So, what are you doing with Naruto?" Tenten whispered, a coy smile was framed by her face.

"I- uh Tsu-. Tsu-Tsunade-sama gave me a mission to watch over him for a few weeks," the blush deepened on her face.

Meanwhile in the dressing room, Naruto was busy taking off his shirt. He was so focused on listening to them, he didn't notice how wet the floor beneath his feet was. But, he did notice when he hit his arm against the wall on accident. The force of the hit nearly made him fall. The liquid beneath made sure he did. He grabbed whatever he could to slow his descent.

Without warning, the curtain was torn down and the boy was going down with it. He landed on the ground with a loud thump. He laid there, wrapped in the curtain.

The female duo rushed over to help him. Tenten immediately tore off the curtain and tried to help him up while saying, "Naruto, are you okay?" Hinata stopped her from helping him up.

"His feet are bleeding," she says.

"I'll go get some bandages," Tenten said as she ran off into the back room.

"And get some water too," Hinata told her.

She helped him sit up.

"Naruto-san, why didn't you say anything?" His face was slightly contorted, but it wasn't from the pain. Then his face was bright and smiling.

"Eh? I didn't think it was that bad. I didn't want to worry you," he scratched the back of his head.

Tenten was back with a bucket of water and bandages in hand. Tenten poured the water across his feet to wash off the blood, using the fallen curtain like a towel to soak up the mixture. With the blood gone, they could see a few medium-sized glass shards sticking out of his feet.

"Stay still for a minute," Hinata told him. Naruto said nothing, but nodded to show his understanding.

One by one Tenten pulled the glass from his feet and then bandaged them.

"N-naruto-san, maybe we should get you a pair of shoes," Hinata said as he stood up, his feet no longer bleeding.

He gave no reply, but it didn't really matter. In this state, he was just like a baby. Helpless and weak.

15 months. That's how long it took me to update. I wrote this chapter once and it was about twice as long, but then my computer messed up and deleted everything. I got frustrated and then 14 months later I make this.

During this time I made the story into a completely different idea, since I couldn't come up with a good ending.

With this I break the 10,000 word mark. Also still looking for a beta so this doesn't happen again.

Signed your slightly insane author,

E-GzorZ-The-Oddity


	5. Yellow Hammer in his Hand

Chapter 5: Yellow Hammer in his Hand

He was surrounded. A dozen, no maybe two dozen shinobi had surrounded him in a clearing. The sunlight beamed down, but the shadows hid them well. He slowly reached down for his kunai, but found that his pouch was gone. Defenseless and outnumbered. Death was close at hand.

Before he could bring up his hands to create his Kage Bunshin, they walked toward him. Their faces became apparent one by one. His friends. His cherished comrades. Some of them looked so small, or was it just that he had gotten bigger?

"Hey dobe!" he heard a raspy voice call out. It chilled his spine. Vomit began to peaks its way up from his throat. He wanted to turn around to see who it was, but he knew he shouldn't. That person was gone. He remembered it very clearly.

"Dobe!" he lost his will to shun the caller. He turned his head to see Sasuke.

"B-... but you're dead," he whispered, tears forming in his eyes. He felt an unbearable weight upon his shoulders, and just for an instant, not even long enough to blink, his mind crashed.

But that was all the time the beast needed to drag him down into the depths of his soul. In a flash, he was before the cage of the Great Beast.

He felt its power radiating. It was like he was being engulfed in fire. He couldn't look away from its menacing eyes.

"Things won't stay the same. Change is upon Us." With those words the intensity increased. He looked around to see the walls beginning to drip, as if they were melting. His entire mindscape was melting. The pain twisted him until his thoughts turned to cries of mercy.

Surely enough, he was melting as well.

Naruto jumped up from his bed covered in a cold seat. It was just a nightmare. He had been having them every few days since he had regained consciousness. It had nearly been a week since he had been in Hinata's care.

Hinata had been teaching him ways to make his life easier until his eyes had recovered, if that ever happened, but most went over his head. If he was left to his own devices, he would become a force of destruction. But through it all, Hinata was patient and tolerant of his disability.

He reached up to scratch his eyes. He scratched his covered eyes with a passionate fury, but with a small amount of success. After a while he began to feel a powdery substance on his hand. He didn't think anything of it until he reached up to scratch his eyes once more. He saw the movement of his hand.

It was extremely vague and cloudy but he saw it. He looked up to his window, but could only barely make it out. It was less than an arm's length away.

Kicking off his bed covers, he made his way to his dresser. He pulled his new outfit over his sweat covered body. From what he had been told, it was a black sleeveless shirt with a white flak jacket and black pants. It didn't blend very well, but it blended better than an orange jumpsuit he mused.

He ventured out into the apartment. He didn't know what time it was but he knew it was in the middle of the night. Hinata always woke up at six in the morning to make their breakfast, but he couldn't hear her.

His stomach let out a growl. The first thought that came to his mind was 'ramen'. It had been a while since he had some, but unfortunately for him they didn't have any ramen in the apartment. If he wanted some he would have to get it himself. He knew of an all night grocery store just a few blocks away.

He grabbed Gama-chan and put on his sandals and quietly exited the apartment. The trouble started when he left the building.

Getting around by himself was harder than he though it would be. He had been practicing counting steps, but unfortunately for Naruto, he wasn't walking in a straight line and neither was he aware of this. He was constantly walking into crates along the edge of the roads or nearly walking into the sides of stands if he didn't see them through the red substance on his eyes at the last second. He was thankful that there was so few people in the streets or he would have probably walked into them as well.

Before he knew it, he could the feel the sun's rays beginning to beam down upon him. It was dawn. He had been walking for what seemed like hours, but no sign of the grocery store. For all he knew, he could have walked right past it without even noticing.

Just when he was about to give up, he heard a voice somewhere in the distance.

"See ya' later, Ino," it wasn't very far. Perhaps just around the next corner. The footsteps were getting closer. He wanted to run, but his body defied his mind. Instead of fleeing, he walked closer and closer. The more he walked the nearer the footsteps got.

And then they stopped.

"Naruto."

"H-..Hi Sakura-chan." And they just stood there. The silence was unbearable for her. She didn't know what to say, but she knew she wanted to say something. It was different for him. It inspired more confidence in him as it grew longer. He treasured it. Words scared him more than anything at this point.

Finally he had enough courage to speak. "So, how have you been? You never came to see me in the hospital. I don't mind though. Kakashi-sensei said you started training under Baa-chan. He said you were getting really good with medical ninjutsu."

"Is that really all you have to say?" she shouted. She stepped forward and grasped him by his shirt. "You have the nerve to talk like that after what you did? Do you even remember?"

Naruto's head hung low. "Wh-What are you talking about?" he said. He could feel her arm tremble as she held his shirt.

Without warning, Sakura slammed him into a nearby fence. Before he knew it, her forearm was pressing down on his throat.

He grasped desperately at her arm with one hand while the other searched for leverage to get out from her hold.

Sakura just watched as he struggled. She never thought it would have happened like this. She didn't want to hate him; she just wanted everything to go back to the way it was before. That was no longer an option. Her righteous hatred had been boiling inside her for a long time, and the moment she saw him she snapped.

Then he did what she didn't expect, Naruto stopped struggling. That was what snapped her out of her rage.

"I hate you. I hate you, Naruto," she whispered. She let him go of him, causing him to fall on the ground gasping for air. She took off before he had the chance to regain his breath.

He sat up against the wall. He brought up his hand to his throat, but realized he had something in his hand. He felt a large splinter of the fence in his hand. He was holding it like he held a kunai. "Damn." He dropped the wood and walked off in the opposite direction of Sakura.

An hour later, Naruto was sitting on a bench in the middle of a park. He knew Hinata would be awake by now. He knew it wouldn't be long before she noticed his disappearance. He didn't dwell on it. His was far too hungry to think.

His mind wandered to thoughts of a feast just for him. There was all sorts of ramen. On his right was a beautiful bowl of miso ramen in all its tangy glory. To his left sat a bowl of shio ramen. The salty aroma made his mouth water. But what wet his appetite the most, was what sat before him. It was the most beautiful live chicken he had ever seen...

Naruto began to choke in astonishment. He had imagined eating many strange things throughout his life, but that was the first time he had ever thought of eating a live chicken. Even though he knew it was such an outrageous idea, he couldn't help to find it fascinating.

In just a few minutes of imitating bird calls, a bird had landed on his hand. Its thin, frail talons gripped his finger, and in return he gripped the talons. The bird was startled and tried to take off but it didn't have the strength to overcome his grip, and so it began to pick at his fingers. The bird was in a frenzy but that didn't bother Naruto. What bothered him was the scent of blood, _his_ blood. A lowly bird, the prey, had brought injury to him, the predator. He bared his teeth and snarled. Within seconds, the bird was gone and a small amount of blood trickled out his mouth.

"Someone's a little hungry." Not good.

A/N: Pretty short for taking 7 months to update. I plan to have the next chapter out by the end of December.

Something about Pete's sake blah blah review blah blah Pete will die blah blah.


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